According to new data released by app analytics firm Flurry, 1.2 billion applications were downloaded for Android and iOS devices between December 25 and December 31. Earlier in the week the group predicted that in that same period it expected new Android and iOS device activations to be right around 6.8 million. Now they are saying that the number is probably closer to 20 million. The 1.2 billion app downloaded figure represents an increase of right around 60 percent compared to average downloads between December 4 and December 17 - 750 million apps were downloaded in the top 20 countries. The firm does not break down activation number or app downloads by platform, unfortunately.

When broken down by country, the United States was the leader in downloads, with 509 million, or 42.3 percent. The U.S. was followed by China at 99 million, even though the country represents about one-third of the smart phone market. Flurry says that this disparity has more to do with culture than anything else, because China doesn't celebrate Christmas. They also posit that China has a lot of popular Android app stores that operate outside the official Android Market, which are a lot harder to track.

South Korea (4th-largest smartphone base) and Japan (5th-largest) ranked at 7th and 10th places for app downloads last week, while Canada sprinted past its 8th-place smartphone ranking to have the 4th-biggest app download ranking.